Why Utah’s Little Cottonwood Canyon Gondola—Or Any Traffic Relief Project—Won’t Be Coming Anytime Soon
Utah’s SR-210, the road connecting Salt Lake City to Alta and Snowbird, during a decidedly non-peak hour. Photo by Greg Rakozy.
If you’ve been following the ski industry these past few years, you probably know about Salt Lake City’s array of proposals to improve transportation to Alta and Snowbird. But public opinion meetings this week made it clear that relief will take quite a while to materialize.
Over two Zoom meetings and one in-person, UDOT accepted feedback on the proposals, including a highly-circulated gondola option. In the process, UDOT relayed telling details on timelines, capacity needs, and other previous proposals that were deemed infeasible. In our opinion, these were the most notable questions addressed at the June 22 meeting:
“Why was a road-building entity entrusted with the future of the canyon?”
UDOT maintains SR-210, the public road that goes from the east end of Salt Lake City to the Alta and Snowbird ski resorts. Since each project would be an improvement or supplement to the road, this agency is in charge.
“The traffic up the canyon is only bad about two weeks each year. Why do we need to widen the road or add a gondola to shove more people up the canyon to the ski resorts?”
The project intends to preemptively address increased traffic patterns expected by 2050. UDOT expects the area’s population to grow substantially by that point, making the current two-lane road setup untenable.
“What options are currently being considered, and are you leaning towards one or another?”
As of June 2020, UDOT has narrowed an array of options down to three finalists:
The goal of each option is to get 30% of crowds into public transportation options during peak hours.
“I am concerned with how much of the canyon the gondola would destroy, how much acreage would need to be touched to build the gondola? How would you get people down WHEN the gondola goes down? “
While exact acreage hasn’t been determined, the gondola would comprise a footprint of 20 towers and 1 angle station. Towers would not require access roads, as they would be put in by helicopter. However, the angle station would require a road.
In an emergency egress situation, UDOT said that cabins could be pulled to nearest tower to get people out.
“It seems that the gondola option at the mouth of Little Cottonwood Canyon will lead to additional traffic from parking and drop offs at the mouth. How do you plan to address this additional traffic?”
Parking and drop-offs will not be allowed at the gondola base. Gondola riders will have to take a lengthy bus ride from a mobility hub to get to the base.
“Since people will have to ride a bus to get there, what is the total travel time for riding the gondola?”
63 minutes to Alta and 55 minutes to Snowbird, including the 28-minute bus ride.
“Why didn’t you just consider a parking lot at the gondola base? Why wasn’t the gondola extended further down the canyon?”
UDOT said that a parking lot at the gondola base would just move the existing traffic chokepoints further down the canyon due to its location, and that they’d actually close the current parking lot where they plan to put the base. They chose this gondola alignment to avoid congesting neighborhoods with traffic.
“How are you going to enforce people not dropping each other off at the base of the gondola? Doesn’t it seem a little unintuitive to have to go all the way to the mobility hub to take a bus to get on the gondola?”
UDOT said that they won’t be able to stop people from dropping off others at the base station. While they said a cop would sometimes be present, they expect enforcement to be difficult.
This rather weak answer concerned us. We feel the proposed setup lends itself to drop-offs in the middle of the road.
“What’s the time difference between the bus options and the gondola option?”
The bus option with no additional roadway capacity would be 9 minutes faster than the gondola to Alta, while the bus option with additional roadway widening would be 28 minutes faster to Alta.
“If the gondola is so much slower than the bus options, why is it being considered?”
The gondola setup provides better weather resiliency. The lift would be able to run during snowstorms with winds up to 68mph.
“Why weren't snowsheds included in the gondola option? Roadway snowsheds in the other two options will protect the enhanced bus service as well as private car traffic.”
Snowsheds weren’t included in gondola option because people would be able to ride the gondola up and down in the event of a canyon closure.
“Will parking be free at the mobility hubs? How many hubs will there be?”
Somewhat surprisingly, UDOT did not rule out charging for parking at these hubs. We got the impression that if a paid setup were to occur, the most likely scenario would be paid VIP spots near the buses and free spots further away.
The agency said that they’re considering up to two hubs. Current proposals show one Big Cottonwood Canyon location (this is what the bus-to-gondola ride times are based off of).
“Have you considered extending the gondola to Park City connecting both valleys to one another? Doing so would provide access for both valleys without the need for additional traffic and pollution.”
UDOT ran traffic numbers on this option. They say that in the best case scenario, such a gondola would only divert 8% of traffic from the current road setup. To meet mobility and reliability goals, they’re shooting for 30% traffic diversion.
“Are the resorts going to provide free lockers to people who take public transit? Taking public transit is a hassle in ski boots, especially if you're coming from within the city.”
This plan doesn’t provide any guidance on day lockers, but the team said there needs to be “some amenities” at the resort to store belongings for a positive user experience. No details on what.
“Is a rail option similar to ones in Switzerland a viable option? ”
While it’s easy to believe that an out-of-sight train would have low ecological repercussions, UDOT actually considered a train option and had to drop it due to cost and environmental impact. In addition, trailheads and a number of homes would need to be removed. With all other options, at most one home would be affected.
“Who’s paying for these improvements?”
Utah residents are! UDOT made it clear that these upgrades would be taxpayer-funded. Tolls on the canyon haven’t been ruled out, and it’s unclear whether residents or workers would be exempt from paying.
“What is the construction timeline for each of the 3 options?”
These proposals need to get through final EIS, which isn’t scheduled to finish until the end of 2021. Following that, a record of decision needs to be made. Then, the project needs to secure funding from the Utah state legislature. Work on the final design won’t even start until all these things occur.
In short, it’s going to take years for this to get any better. In addition, there’s no guarantee the legislature will fund the preferred alternative.
“Is there a chance of the government regulating the Ikon Pass?”
The UDOT team made it strictly clear that such a mandate would not be in their wheelhouse. Crowd management and ticket capacities will be left solely up to the resorts.
Final Thoughts
While Alta and Snowbird both deliver impressively well-rounded experiences on the slopes, lodging at both is lacking (and at Alta, all options are extremely expensive). We imagine these options would all significantly relieve traffic along SR-210 and allow better peak-hour access to and from Salt Lake City.
However, given the EIS and legislative timelines, we get the sense that no discernible impact will be felt for years, regardless of the option chosen. All of these options are still quite preliminary, and they’re ultimately being designed for a use-case set to occur 30 years from now. To some, the buzz around these proposals may underscore how far away in the future we’ll actually see the chosen option implemented. UDOT is still open to feedback and might still consider other relief options.
It’s worth noting that with the proposed gondola setup, a major impact would be the direct lift connection between the Alta and Snowbird bases. This would further link the already-interconnected resorts, allowing skiers staying at Snowbird to just hop in the gondola to get to Alta—and vice-versa—eliminating the current need to cut across upper mountain areas. However, the study has made it clear that a direct connection between the resorts isn’t a priority here, nor is an aerial connection to other Salt-Lake-area resorts.
Given the logistical comprises, we left the meeting thinking the gondola option might not actually be the best idea. We felt the faster one-stop bus options and snowshed improvements sounded more appealing. We’ll be listening in over the next few decades to see what happens.
